We have a gent here in St. Aug that was in SOG. Always enjoyed talking with him when he would come into the store where i worked years ago. Pretty cool dude. Some pretty insane stories too.

My dad had the pleasure of meeting a member of SOG when he was back in a fire base or back at Cu Chi, (my dad was with the 4th/23rd/25th, 66-67). He said he actually scared the sh!t outa him. Rice sack, Sweedish K, and a crap load of mags. He was there trying to recruit a buddy of his. My Dad said he couldn't wait to get outta his company.

Originally posted by DeLandSkyjumper Rice sack, Sweedish K, and a crap load of mags.

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Those were the days! One of the benefits of serving with MACV was that "the brass" didn't care how we dressed or what we carried. When I began my assignment my "performance objectives" were clearly stated for me: (1) Minimize your unit's casualties and (2) maximize the enemy's casualties. At the end of each month it was simple body count math.

Among the weapons that I carried on missions at various times were the following: CAR-15, sawed off 12 guage pump, Remington 700 (sniper model), Ruger .357, .38 special snubnose, Thompson submachinegun, AK-47, M3 greasegun, M-79 (semiauto), etc. Basically, I tried about everything, what was issued to us as well as selecting from what we took off the bodies of the VC. If we had enough ammo we would carry just about anything you could imagine.

Originally posted by Glock 21 Dan Hokieglock, maybe thoes SOG guys had stuff us regular guys never even got to see.

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i've read several books on sog in vietnam, the most noteable the one by john plaster. i don't remember anything about a semiauto blooper. maybe the op has a picture of this jackalope of weapons. i don't remember anyone using a thompson or grease gun either.

Originally posted by Glock 21 Dan Yeah, well, you know how these things go. I do believe that SOG did get to use some unconvential weapons such Thompsons and Grease Guns, probably battlefield pick-ups or donated by the ARVON's.

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Actually, the greasegun wouldn't have been a very exotic weapon in the 60's. In the 80's I was trained as an armorer on them - one of the issued weapons in my artillery battalion in Germany. Some of our mechanics carried them (not a joke - they had both the kind that shoot grease and the kind that shoot .45 ACP). I was just reading Eric Haney's book, Inside Delta Force, and he said they had a warehouse full of M3 greaseguns as the standard issue weapon for the first year or so after delta was formed (late 70's).

Bren: I have no doubt there were lots of grease guns and other exotic weapons around. I just don't know that they were regularly issued to Spec. Op. personnel in 'Nam. All I know for sure is there were not any SEMI-AUTO M-79's.

In a "prior life" I was a Special Forces weapons NCO. There never was a semi-auto M-79. Also - the Rem. 700 "Sniper version" didn't exist back then; I'd argue it doesn't exist now but will give some folks poetic license what with the current variants. I am in contact with folks who actually served in MAC-V SOG. The internet is a rather anonymous venue and people can say anything they want. I'm not trying to insult Slugger as he may have just forgotten the nomenclature of some of the weapons from back in the day.

Originally posted by Glock 21 Dan Bren: I have no doubt there were lots of grease guns and other exotic weapons around. I just don't know that they were regularly issued to Spec. Op. personnel in 'Nam. All I know for sure is there were not any SEMI-AUTO M-79's.

Now, where are you in the beautiful state of Kentucky??

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You are correct - I didn't read the whole thread, just glanced over some posts. Obviously, there was no semi-auto M-79 and, as far as I know, no semi-auto individual-weapon grenade launcher of any kind back them (I do recall that the big revolving cyl. one Christopher Walken used in "Dogs of War" was a real item in the 70's).

Originally posted by JimP In a "prior life" I was a Special Forces weapons NCO. There never was a semi-auto M-79.

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With all due respect I stand by my statement. The fact that you, and others who have posted in this thread, never saw a semi-auto M-79 doesn't mean that they didn't exist. It looked much like the break open, single shot model common to that era with the exception that it had a 3-round magazine. Personally, I didn't like it. Granted you could fire the rounds in quick succession, but when fully loaded it was difficult to hold and aim because most of the weight was off center. We were given one to use as part of a field test. I can only assume that due to negative feedback they were never mass produced and issued. By the way, I worked in lll Corps.

Originally posted by slugger6 With all due respect I stand by my statement. The fact that you, and others who have posted in this thread, never saw a semi-auto M-79 doesn't mean that they didn't exist. It looked much like the break open, single shot model common to that era with the exception that it had a 5-round magazine that fed from left to right. Personally, I didn't like it. Granted you could five five rounds in quick succession, but when fully loaded it was difficult to hold and aim because most of the weight was left of center. We were given one to use as part of a field test. I can only assume that due to negative feedback they were never mass produced and issued. By the way, I worked in lll Corps.

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The T148E1 Launcher was tested in Vietnam and found to be unreliable... it fired from a 3rd magazine on the RIGHT side...
they also tested a pump-action version of the M79 called the China Lake Pump-Action Grenade Launcher... it also held 3 rds...

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